DO NOT KEEP YOUR PAPERS EXCLUSIVELY IN A SAFE DEPOSIT BOX! Ask anyone who went through Hurricane Katrina.

Stock certificates and heirloom jewelry, by all means. Keep the things you might need-- insurance policies, wills, birth certificates and such double bagged in two zip top bags and store them flat in your freezer. If you have a chest-type freezer, tape the bags to the underside of the lid. If you are using your refrigerator freezer compartment, put them on the floor of the compartment.

In case of death, your safe deposit box may be sealed and your heirs might not have access until the will is probated, which it can't be if it's locked in your safe deposit box. In case of disaster, you may not have access to your bank for weeks.

Disaster could strike the home, bank, post office including those already mentioned. Since I had two

DAYTIME thefts in my home over the years, leaving few items of value to protect, and since there seems to be NO privacy allowed any longer, I carry my ORIGINAL personal important papers container with my purse at all times, leaving a COPY of them all with a friend, and ANOTHER COPY at home, perferring to take my chances this

way, rather than the alternatives. It's no more trouble than my purse alone. Sort of like cooking for two is as easy as cooking for one. This has worked for me for nine years. : )